Turkey's prime minister has accused the European Union of trying to pressure the country's judiciary over the trial of novelist Orhan Pamuk on charges of insulting Turkish identity.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the judiciary is examining the case, and that the EU should wait for the outcome. EU officials see the high-profile case as a test of Turkey's commitment to democracy and human rights reforms.

Mr. Pamuk was charged following a February interview with a Swiss newspaper, during which he said one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in Turkey in the last century, and that he is the only person who dares to speak about the massacres.